It’s May, it’s May, that Lusty Month of May! Hi Girls. I promised, if you asked, I would give you the recipe for Blueberry Angel Cake sooner rather than later, and you asked! So, here it is! Happy May Day! You deserve it, you’ve been sooooo good. ♥ I have much love for you! Your comments are amazing! xoxo
Easy, wonderful cake . . . ENJOY!
In honor of May Day, I’m going to let our Giveaway (scroll down to the post just following this one if you missed it) continue a few more days, to make sure everyone has a chance to sign up. If 
you already did, you don’t have to leave another comment because you are already entered, but you can if you want because Vanna is not only beautiful but smart . . . she knows to choose from only one of each comment, which means you can talk all you want. And I thought I’d sweeten the pot just a wee bit to celebrate May! Someone is going to win BOTH my SUMMER and GIRLFRIEND’S Books, and in addition, we’ll draw one more name, for this:
It’s my brand new (I forgot to tell you!) COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS, BOOK OF DAYS. Kellee called me yesterday to remind me that “the Blessings Book” came in during my months in the FINE ROMANCE tunnel and I just forgot to mention it. (Now that’s a tunnel!)
I designed this book and sent it in last year, just before we sailed away to England — another lifetime ago!
I based it on my old DAYS BOOK (which is out of print now) — so it can be used as a Journal, a Birthday Book, or a Dream Book, but since we are such Blessing Counters around here ♥, I thought it would be a wonderful place to jot down the best things of each day, what we learned, and words of wisdom, so those memories last forever, and can even be passed down to people we love. If you’re not already entered for the other two books, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and we’ll draw for both prizes at the same time.
It’s the little things that make up a lifetime — we’ll take care of the minutes and the years will take care of themselves. ♥
Here’s a minute: Our tulips are in bloom! Blessing. ✔ Check!
Not all of us are experiencing bowers of flowers right now — and washing in snow, fair maid or not, is not quite the same as “washing in dew!” There are still snowstorms out there! So, this is for you, all of you really, if you run to your door, you might (If I had my way) find one of these hanging on your door knob, from me to you with love, a bouquet in a wallpaper cone (from our dining room wallpaper). Such a sweet tradition, leaving garden flowers on friend’s doors. ♥ The red flower is from our quince bush, which is obviously celebrating FLORA, the Goddess of Flowers, which has nothing whatever to do with Frosty, the god of snow! Go away Frosty!
This is what we want now!
May, Flowers, CAKE, and books, who could ask for anything more? The tiny frosting on the cake would be if you haven’t seen the movie featuring this Musica (playing right now if you clicked on it at the top of this post), you might want to put it on your list. FRIENDLY PERSUASION is a wonderful sweet old movie; it will make you cry, and you know how we love that.♥ XOXOX
Thank you for the great recipe! I am a fan of angel food cake and have made up all kinds of recipes, from strawberry-rhubarb to root beer to autumn butterscotch, but I have never tried blueberry. It just so happens I have a few bags of blueberries from last season in the freezer. Need to clean it out before this berry season is upon us. Yum!!
Thanks for passing this on and thank you for entering me in the drawing! Love and May flowers to you!
Perfect timing! xoxo
Rabbit rabbit girlfriends!!!!
Dear Susan!
I just started following your blog about a month ago and I must say, we would certainly be friends if the opportunity arose! I love classic movies, baking, gardening and all things beautiful. You are a blessing to have discovered! Thank you for being a light keeper and then sharing that light with all of us!
Heidi
Nice to meet you Heidi! It’s a world of Kindred spirits around here, loving all the good things of life. Good to have you here!
Good morning Susan
Thank you for your beautiful pictures of “May flowers”. Can’t wait to make your cake recipe; angel food was my dear Mom’s favorite cake. I was very interested in your wallpaper cone; would love to know how you did that! Another clever idea from you. Have a wonderful day and enjoy all that this season offers.
You can celebrate Mother’s Day with it! xoxo On the cone, you just cut a square of leftover wallpaper, roll it up and tape it, nothing to it!
Happy May Susan! It feels like we have waited soo long for these beautiful flowers. I can’t wait to try the blueberry cake recipe but I would love to win your new Days journal as I have filled the 6 I already have! Beautiful May days to you!
Six! You have the story of your life!
I’m going to make this delicious looking cake and cross my fingers that I win the books! Sounds like a wonderful day!
Aww, the cake looks WONDERFUL…YUM! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Can’t wait to try the cake–yum yum! Love all you do and thank you for the “sb” time each day.
Perfect timing, I bought the berries already.
You knew!
Love your books! Thank you for a taste of summer today… We are getting snowed on today here in Denver
I heard that . . . thinking of you!
We are out in Cherry Creek State Park in our Airstream enjoying the snow. It is falling softly and coating the trees. Beautiful! We enjoyed spring in Texas before we left and now have the chance to have a second spring arrive in Colorado! We will spend the summer in Yellowstone so a third spring awaits us…
I would love to be awarded your Blessings book! I have never had one of your Days books; however, I am fortunate to have all of your cookbooks. If Vanna draws my name for the cookbooks, I would give them to my daughter on her “Adoption” birthday (May 11th) as they contain so many of the recipes from her childhood!:-). And she could use them to make memories with her daughter!!!
You are such a blessing to me, Susan. As we say in church, “Thanks be to God” for you!!!!!!!!
Dear Susan, thank you for the cake recipe and beautiful flowers! The cake looks wonderful and it just so happens that I have everything on hand to make it! Happy May Day everyone! xoxo
My favorite kind of recipes are that way, where you don’t have to make a special trip to the store! Yay!
Good morning, Susan!!!
Happy Hippity Hump day to you!!! We will have another day of warmth here in the midwest before the rain and cool weather returns :(. But, I am basking in another glorious day, birds singing, creepers in concert, frogs abound, heard our resident pheasant this morning too. Life is spectacular.
Thanks for the giveaway and your amazing generosity!
Sending you more sunshine and rays of blessings upon your doorstep.
XooX,
Jeanette
Thank you Jeanette!
Thanks for the recipe! This may make it to our table for Mother’s Day this year! Happy Spring!! 🙂
Kelly from eastern PA
I think it would be perfect for that, was thinking the same thing!
Hi Susan. I hope you are feeling better. I noticed in some of your past posts that you were quite under the weather. This is the perfect post for the first of May and the perfect post just for me. Your Blueberry Angel Cake looked so delish and now We have the recipe. Thank you. Interesting how life changes after experiencing an illness. I just want to go plant flowers now…grow daffodils actually. So I was in heaven enjoying this post. Absolutely love your new book “Counting Our Blessings.” I wish I had it now. This is what I’d have to write in it. Had a Dr. appointment yesterday. He was very pleased that the tumor is smaller. And some of the signs I’m seeing in my body they say is the tumor dissolving. So hats off to all the wonderful people here in Susan Branch World who are praying for me. Your prayers are working! Thank you all for a blessing well worth counting! xo
So happy to hear that good news Rhonda, you are going in the very best direction, toward wellness and total health! We will keep praying! xoxo
Such good news, Rhonda!!! All the love and best wishes in the world to you and prayers for continued good news!
What wonderful, wonderful news Rhonda! Your sweet spirit and strong faith are evident in your posts….even as we continue to pray for you, you are a blessing to us!
Shannon, I could not say it any better. That’s how we feel Rhonda.
Wonderful news, Rhonda! You keep that grateful, loving spirit of yours and we’ll keep praying….a perfect partnership for healing!
What a great way to start a new month, Rhonda – wonderful news!! 😉
wonderful news Rhonda, way to go girlfriend. Happy May Day to you!!!! 🙂
Rhonda! I’m so happy that your health is coming back!!! Prayer is the MOST powerful thing there is. My church is a praying church that gets the job done. It’s just amazing! We will all continue to pray for you!! Keep you spirit up…. God is good!
So happy to read this Rhonda! Just the other day I found the most wonderful words online. This link takes you to the blog, and I think this is an amazing piece of prose, and this is just what you got here, Girlfriend, is a Circle of Women! experienceproject.com/stories/Wish-For-A-Circle-Of-Women-From-The-Feminist/2158654
We sure do! Lucky US!
Rhonda D, Great news! Continuing prayers for you!
WONDERFUL NEWS! HUGS & PRAYERS
Rabbit, rabbit! Love your little May basket gift:) You would have one from me on your kitchen door knob if I lived a wee bit closer:))
That cake looks delish but . . . you know me, “Betty Bandaid” (as opposed to Betty Crocker) wonder if I could add the blueberries (bought some yesterday) to a boxed (horrors) mix and add the lemon glaze? May just try that as I love the combo of blueberries and lemon. Your tulips are enchantingly delicious.
OH, Love that Book of Days – yes, please enter me, would love it (kinda like a smash book that is going around:) – an arty/tidbits/journal thing – sweet!
Don’t forget girlfriends, the Queen Mary 2 is due into NY harbor I believe Thurs. night. You can check the live NYharborwebcam site – fabulous.
I check that out all the time, dream moments, ahhh to be experiencing that again! Thanks Judi!
Dear Susan,
You are a blessing! Always so generous!
Flowers from the garden and Blueberry Angel food for breakfast!
But Susan, tell us, what do you do with the dozen egg yolks?
Happy May to you!
I bought the whites alone, didn’t use whole eggs — it saves lots of gooey fingers to do it that way!
I didn’t know about these! Thanks!
Yes, we use regular eggs too, but when I have to do a lot, it really saves time to do it this way.
They’re usually in the dairy case section – often not near the eggs – who knows why but keep looking if you don’t see them near the whole eggs!
They are usually near the “egg beaters” for people like my husband who eats only the whites!
Hi Elaine! Make mayonnaise, sauces for veggies (Hollandaise), Caesar salad dressing, homemade vanilla pudding…….
Holly, this made me laugh! Most of those are on my ‘used to make’ list, but for just two – rarely. But, now I’m feeling inspired, thanks!
I think you can freeze egg yolks, can’t you? I’m sure I’ve seen something somewhere about it. Maybe you need to pierce the yolk, but I’m sure it can be done. We do not have egg whites only here, so I would have to find a way to use the yolks.
Well, there really are lots of ways to use them … like hollandaise sauce for instance — or you can pop an extra one in every time you make scrambled eggs. Or put them over your dog’s food if you have one, because they LOVE that!
I’m glad I made you laugh! It’s just two of us, too – you gotta live it up sometime! 🙂
I think you can freeze egg whites, I don’t know about egg yolks though. but I have frozen egg whites in an ice cube tray.
What about the Egg McMuffins that are frozen? They are the whole egg.
The Egg McMuffens that you find in the freezer are made with the whole egg. So I’m thinking that you can freeze eggs.
Congratulations on your new books! I hope I win some old ones. I am going to my oncologist today so wish me luck. My husband is going to love the blueberry angle cake, because he is from Maine.
Good luck Lori! Hope it’s good news.
Thank you for the recipe, it looks delicious. Also thank you for sharing your books in your giveaway, hope I am the lucky one!
Oh, what a lovely cake!
I love that new DAYS book! Need!
I have two of the green ones and I like to read all the stuff I filled our days with back then.
I shall buy some tulips at the grocery store this morning.
They make everything better!
Happy May!!! Happy Spring!!!! Happy Blueberry Angel Food Cake!!!! AND Happy New Book before “our” new book arrives! xoxo
Soooooo Happy it’s May!!!! Thank you for the lovely cake recipe!! I’ll bet some homemade vanilla icecream would be pretty good with that!!!!
Thrilled about your new book…I have a real love affair with England…hope to be there in 2014…this time Cornwall…..
I found a book through one of my lovely blog friends in England…I know you would love it…
“Mary Berry’s Baking Bible” what a treasure…..all of the old favorites…what prompted me to get it was a picture of ” butterfly cakes”!!! So so so sweet …I can see them on your lovely china….you could make them and have a ” cream tea” !!!
Well …happy day to you lovely lady…..May!!!! Yea!!!!
I don’t think you could go in a “wrong” direction when it comes to England! Have fun Miss Holly!
Happy May Day to you Susan. Your recipe has come at such a good time, as I have so many eggs from my girls to use. Going to get cracking on it right now!
Best Wishes
Bertie x
🙂 “The girls.”
she should be here, I have about 45 “girls” right now and 13 more coming in and will be laying by Fall. anyone need some eggs??? LOL!!! 🙂
You must sell them right Pat? That’s a lot of eggs!
we have a large customer base and we sell at the local farmer’s market on weekends.
I can just imagine! Do you sell anything else?
well when the garden is giving us too many tomatoes or veggies we sell those as well, what we can’t eat right away we put up for winter, the rest we either eat or sell, same for eggs what we don’t use, or eat we sell.
would LOVE to be near you:) I’d snap up anything you sold:)
Dear Susan…………..Happy May Day! Just love seeing all the flowers and thank you so much for showing them. I do miss them all. Right now we have azealas blooming (they bloom 3 times a year but are a different type than you would have in MA), and the knock out roses are over the top and beautiful and my favorite right now are the hibiscus. But, having said that, there are nothing so lovely as daffodils. Didn’t realize “The Blessings Book” was different from the other calendar book either. Hope you have a marvelous day! Hugs, Gail Buss
We managed to keep a hibiscus in our bedroom all winter, it’s huge now (stretching for light) and blooming — but still too early to put it outside. Wonderful flowers! Thanks Gail, it sounds gorgeous where you are.
It’s May, it’s May that lusty month of May – Beltane Blessings to All!
Susan – I went to my bookcase to see if I have the out-of-print 1996 Book of Days…and yes! I do! In prime condition, because I am on a mission to obtain every book you ever published, and keep them pristine.*
My gratitude journal choice was the one with two young girls vamping on the front cover, all lined pages, from 2000 I believe. The gratitude poured out often in 2001, a few times in 2003, a tiny bit in 2006 and then just stopped. It appears I attempted to pick it up again in 2011 and failed. WAY too long a story there…it will eventually be filled at some point in my life. If I am not so lucky this time to win either prize, rest assured I will be purchasing the new Book of Days.
*The books I do not have and REALLY crave are ‘Angeles Trilogy’, any idea how to get them without spending $50.00 + per book?
ta for now –
Marcia in Sewell, NJ
I don’t know why they are called the Angeles Trilogy — I’ve just heard this name recently! Funny! And I looked it up, and one of the books, COCKTAILS, from this “Trilogy” is selling for $500! I think you should watch yard sales! 🙂 Sorry!
I think that cake will be a perfect way to help my children get through the drudgery of final exams coming up next week. Thanks for the recipe AND the opportunity to win one of your wonderful creations.
Carolina
You are so welcome Carolina!
Happy May Day Susan and to all the girlfriends! Thanks for the recipe and the movie suggestion. So fun to see Anthony Perkins playing someone other than Norman Bates …
He kind of plays them the same way :-), but I know what you mean!
I always cry when I watch “Friendly Persuasion” and I have watched it countless times!
Can’t help it, that little barefoot kiss!
I love the sneaky way Gary Cooper gets the horse to race to church….LOL!!!!!
So cute!
Happy Glorious Day Susan…I can’t wait to try the Angel Food Cake recipe!!!…This was the first time I’ve heard about the “Count Your Blessings” book…I’ve got to have it!!! How wonderful it would be to buy as gifts for the girlfriends in my life!!! You and all of the girlfriend on this blog are one of my blessings…It just confirms that “Happiness” is a beautiful choice!!!
Right Angela, we do get to choose! xoxo
Hi! Thank you for the recipe! I am grocery shopping tonight! Yesterday after work, as I was enjoying our summer-like day on my deck, I thought of you and your wonderful photos celebrating nature. In that blessing counting way, I took a picture of my tree (who knows what kind?) and how the green sproutlets looked like lace against the beautiful blue sky. 🙂 Thank you so much for helping me to remember to ‘smell the roses’!. Oh! and I must tell you; the other day at work as I was passing from one building to another, I saw the last baby gosling fall (and I mean hard!) from his nest to join mama goose and the brothers and sisters already down on the ground waiting! I had to go back in and look out to the roof where I could see their nest and all their little down feathers. It was a thrill for me, it’s the little things! It totally made my day!! Have a happy day! Love You!
Nice stories Vicki. Thank you so much! Baby geese!!
Love the recipe……love lemon!!! Will try it soon…..is the recipe in any of your cookbooks or should I make a copy!!!!
Make a copy, it’s not in any of the books yet.
~Happy May Day~
Nothing blooming in my yard yet so I’ll be off to the store to get my bouquet~ the cake looks yummy! ~ When my Mother~ in~ law used to make Angel Food Cake my hubby and his brothers used to mash it down~FLAT~ why? ~ Because it “tasted” better?! ~Boys!!~
LOL! Sounds like home! 🙂
You’re always so sweet to share your goodies with us. I keep a journal and write in it every day of my life! What a fun book this would be for me! Thanks for always giving us a ray of sunshine. Happy Spring sweet lady!
Happy May Day Everyone!! I finally remembered to say “Rabbit/Rabbit” this month (fingers crossed for better luck)…..Susan, we have the exact yellow tulip in our yard they are just so vibrant against that green grass. We also have a beautiful red with a black eye inside which is also very pretty. I sadly had to leave all of my established flowers/shrubs at the farm when we moved and that made me sad. I planted a lovely pink/white tulip last Fall and the leaves came up and no blooms?? I made sure I didn’t plant the bulbs to deep and even added bone meal to nourish them…so disappointed (maybe next year)? I think the tragedy of planting Spring Bulbs is when we experience the weather some of us are this year and either hard rains or SNOW (MN/CO) beat the delicate flowers down. We are having 84 degrees here today so I’m going to break out the Capris and go outside and drink in all the warmth and fresh air and just revel in the glory of all the pastel colors of the blossoms. Thank you for the cake recipe and all the beautiful flowers. Blessings
Happy May Day!
I love that I can come to this place and find wonderful women with wonderful hearts…who appreciate the simple things in life!
The children and I are just now getting ready to assemble a few May baskets for my neighbors. The giggles and excitement as we talked about sneaking up to the door, ringing the bell and running to hide…isn’t this just the most fun tradition? Later, we’ll have a May Day parade, with the leader carrying a pole wrapped with flowing ribbons and everyone wearing a dandelion chain. Lunch is a peanut butter and jelly picnic on a blanket in the back yard. You see?….this is why I’m having a hard time growing up.
xoxoDebbie
PS: Thank you for the recipe. It’s one of the prettiest cakes I’ve ever seen! My mouth is watering just thinking about it 🙂
Debbie, what wonderful memories you are making together!
Happy May Day to all!
Dawn
♡♡
Hello! So happy to see the “Counting Our Blessings – Days” book. Seems it could be used as a planner too. Thank you! Happy May Day!
Yes, you’re right, also a planner! Thank you Heidi!
You brought back memories of May baskets. As a child I made them for my mother, two sets of grandparents and a few neighbors. The trick was to leave them at the door but scoot away undetected.
Happy May! I love the new Days book, and I grabbed it the minute it appeared on your shopping page. I did put it away to use starting in January- so glad you have a desk-type calendar in print again. It’s a cheerful way to start the day 🙂 Enjoy your gorgeous trees in bloom- I miss the spring blossoms of New England. xoxo Jacqui
Good May morning everyone. My Christmas cactus is a mass of blooms (it also bloomed in October) and I have a wonderful bouquet of sunny daffodils on my dining room table. Thank you so much for the Angel Food w/Blueberries and Lemon Glaze recipe. When we were little we rented a cottage in Muskoka and my Dad loved blueberries. He would make his little darlings go blueberry picking before we could go swimming, lol, but our reward was the fresh pies and preserves Mom would make. Off to have lunch with three dear friends to celebrate May Day.
Thank you for the blueberry cake recipe–can’t wait to try it. I love your new book of days. Also looking forward to receiving A Fine Romance!! Hope it comes early!! Thank you, Susan for such beautiful posts–I read them again and again.
Happy May Day!
Barbara S. from Cumming, GA
Thank you for that recipe! Perfectly scrumptious-looking! I plan to make it for our anniversary dinner tonight. And those beautiful Spring flowers are really like a May Day basket hanging on my door so thank you for that! Ours are slowing coming….slowly! xo
A beautiful Happy May Day to you too. Thank you for the lovely flowers you sent today and the Blueberry Angel Cake recipe. Our tulips bloomed and spent in early April this year. Texas has already had temps in the 80’s but the cool fronts keep coming back and dropping our temps to the 60’s. We have heat hearty begonias planted now getting ready for the scorching Texas summer.
Susan, I love all your photos of your yard and it’s flowers. You take some wonderful pictures….but it’s your art work that just makes me feel so good. It takes me back to reading children’s books to my daughters. I think it’s that peaceful feeling full of love being with my girls. Thank you. xoxo,Susie
It’s funny you should say that — I have always secretly felt that I write children’s books for adults!
Susan, you ‘almost’ have me reconsidering my fear of making angel food cakes! My granny used to make them all the time. I can still picture sitting in her kitchen waiting for the cake to be cool enough to cook. She’d always make two and sit each upside down on a coke bottle to cool. I tried making one once decades ago and ended up with a sweet tasting brick. Thank you for the flowers, it’s rainy gloomy here in Virginia Beach and the blooms brightened my day!
The upside-down-to-cool-part is really important! But this one is really very easy. Fold in the flour with as much air as possible, but you don’t have to fear it! It’s never failed for me. xoxo
Thank you so much for the recipe. I am going to make it this weekend for my family. Thank you also for your wonderful posts. I simply adore your blog and love that you show us so much of Martha’s Vineyard. I live clear across the country in Washington state but have always wished I lived in New England. I visit often but it is not enough. Someday… I check daily to see if you have posted something new as it brings a smile to my face. Thank you also for the opportunity to win a book or two. I just love your books and read them over and over.
Nice to hear from you Sheldon!
Thanks for a great recipe. I have never seen a recipe for a blueberry angle cake but it sounds perfect. Also, thanks for the giveaway. Love all your books!
Happy Spring!! I just love your books, give that neighbor doggie a hug from me!!!
She’s coming to spend the weekend, so I will!
What fun – Iris and Jack and Girl Kitty are having a sleep over. Please take pictures for us.
They all seem to look in opposite directions from each other, no actual eye contact! But I’ll try to get them in the same frame for a picture!
Good morning Susan and May Day too you !!! Your flowers look so wonderful. We are finely getting warmer temps here in Michigan and everything looks so nice in bloom. I hope your Spring brings you nothing but the Best !!!
Happy May Day! Yet another wonderful post, filled with so many gifts for us girlfriends! Can’t wait to try the recipe for that beautiful Blueberry Angel Cake. Each day I thank God for such a beautiful wonderful life. And each day I count my many blessings and this blog of yours Susan is one of them. Here’s an Irish blessing for all of us “May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most, May the most you wish for be the least you get, May the Lord keep you in His Hand and never close His fist too tight.” ♥
Happy May!!! All of the flowers in you post look so lovely. I remember making May baskets with crepe paper flowers in school and leaving them on neighbors’ door knobs on the way home. Thanks for the cake recipe…I think I will make it for Mother’s Day!
Hope everyone is having a Sunny May Day – here in Denver we are getting snow!! Maybe making the Blueberry Angel Cake will make it feel like spring INSIDE!
xoxox
This is the day to go outside, take a deep breath of the cold, then go back in and smell that cake baking! Oh Yes!
So fun to take a walk while the snow is coming down and hear the quiet:-). Love the snow on the trees, especially the pine trees. Just saw a herd of 7 deer! In a state park in the middle of urban Denver!! Amazing!!!
Making one of these today! I have finally master Angel Food cake. What is it that makes it so hard? Impatience, maybe?
I am going to use canned blueberries from my bushes last year. I take a cup of berries (which is what I use for most everything), drop ’em in the darling jelly jars, tighten down the lid (no water, no sugar!), and process five minutes in a boiling water bath.
They seal and keep beautifully! And, when you open the jar in the midst of winter, they still smell like summer and are as fresh as when they were picked! They don’t get mushy or soft! The bloom is still on them!
Happy, happy May!
So fun to open summer food in a snowstorm!
Ooooh, Happy May Day sweet Susan!… I love the month of May… maybe because it is my birthday on the 13th and I want someone to bake me that cake!!!… I may need to bake it myself, but that’s okay… thank you for the recipe… yum!… I love May for all of the other beautiful things she holds in store as well… your photos are so beautiful… our flowers are a bit behind this May as we had such terrible winds and freezing temps not too long ago… but… that will make my roses smell all the sweeter when they are all finally in bloom… I would so love to win your “Count your Blessings” daybook… I have one of your out of print Day Books which I LOVE!… your little wallpaper cone of May flowers is so sweet… wish someone would leave one on my door… enjoy this beautiful beginning to an enchanting month… xoxo Julie Marie PS Hello Kitties, hello Joe!…
Happy almost Birthday Julie Marie!
Julie Marie –
My best friend’s birthday (we’ve known each other since we were 9) is also on the 13th (her oldest son’s is the 14th)! She’s never complained that is often falls on Mother’s Day! Happy early birthday wishes to you! 😉
Happy May Day to you, dear Susan. Can’t wait to make the Blueberry Cake– it shouts (in the nicest possible way) “Spring is here!” All around our town, the daffodils are waving a cheery “Hello” everywhere you go — but few tulips in my neighborhood, though, as they become deer lunch.
If I send. Rose to you ,
every time you make me blue ……….!I’ll just have to see if I can do it !
I think it’s a song, but not sure which one, it sounds pretty though, Dad.
Thank you for your wonderful photos and stories!!! I enjoy seeing what is going on in your world and the great recipes-I can’t wait to try them all. I am a nurse and some days are not so great-it’s a real breath of fresh air to look at your website and forget my cares-keep up the wonderful work!
I can imagine Ellen, but I do have to stop and say thank you. I am amazed at the work nurses do, and LOVE them for their selflessness angel-on-earthness, that we could not live without. Simply could not live without you. Thank you.
I agree. . . Thank you Ellen and to ALL nurses! You are angels on earth and do such challenging work with patience and a love of people.
Happy May Day! I remember making little May Day baskets to put on neighbor’s doors!!
Love the cake recipe – it does sound easy! Lots of berries at the Farmer’s Markets out here now!! This is the perfect month to try it!
Love the new Days book – it should join the original one that I have!!
Have a terrific weekend everyone!! I’ve noticed that we all sound happier now that May is here!! Maybe we’re May Maniacs!! 😉
Rabbit Rabbit to you too! Thanks for the cake recipe, lovely flowers, and the opportunity to win the Counting Our Blessings book too. Wondered if that book is available for purchase just in case Vanna doesn’t pick me. I’d love one for myself and for my daughters too. The best to you and to all the Girlfriends!
Yes, just click on the title on the post — it’s linked and it should come up.
Susan, Thank you so much for the recipe . It will be perfect for Mother’s Day!
Winning the books would definitely be the “icing on the cake”. Have a wonderful Spring!
Mary Alice
What a pleasant surprise to find a new post this morning! Just got back from hanging May baskets on my friends’ doors. My kindergarten helped make the cones yesterday. We filled them with flowers, flowers stickers, and lollipop flowers for the kids. He also took one to his teacher. He was so proud to carry it in! Can’t want to try the cake. Looks so delicious! Happy May Day!
See what people in “Flower Mound” do? Deee-lightful Lisa!
Thanks Susan! Loved your wallpaper cones! I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and memories of May Day!
Happy May Day, Susan!
Happy May Day, Girlfriends!
Thank you for this beautiful start to my day!
I’ve been on the MIA list for awhile and am so happy to show up to this beautiful post on this, the 1st of May. I remember my childhood May Days as a celebration in church, with the huge statue of Mary being carried down the aisle and the incense burning & lots of singing & celebrating, the little girls dressed in beautiful dresses feeling like princesses (at least I did!) and it was a wonderful celebration! When my girls were young it was making May baskets like yours 🙂 , filling them with flowers and then they would go around to the neighbors houses, place the baskets on the door knobs, ring their doorbells & run & hide in the bushes and then giggle when they saw the bright faces as the recipients found the lovely flower baskets! I had never heard of this tradition so it was as much fun for me as it was for them! Thank you, Susan for bringing back these memories to me!
I believe I will make this yummy cake this afternoon, go buy some tulips (the alpacas ate all but 1 of mine!) and surprise my honey when he comes home. Maybe I’ll even make some May Baskets & surprise my girls!
More Fun Times with Susan Branch!
Love is sent your way! ♥
♥Deb♥
You are going to be very popular today Deb!
Happy May Day, Susan…Thank you for being such an angel…for sharing the angel food cake recipe and the lovely spring photos…we still need reminding that spring is here…we had two warmish days and now it is cold again…still haven’t seen anything blooming, but I enjoy seeing your blooms…May is my birthday month…and I turn really old this year…old enough for government benefits…oh dear…how did I get this old???…I feel like I’m still in high school…xoxo…
Something to be said for government benefits! I would have like them in high school! 🙂 Although I have to say, you did earn that money, so really, its like your own savings account getting paid back to you!
Congratulations, Rae Ann–I’m 1 year ahead of you. Felt the same way–how did I get this old so fast? but that feeling leaves and you feel your normal self real fast. Susan is right–just remember that you contributed to that fund your whole working life–kind of was like a savings–puts social security payments in a different light… 🙂
When I get my pension cheque, I call it pay day. So nice to be able to count on it being deposited in my account every month, no matter what. And Susan is right, you earned that money, so enjoy it!
It always puzzles me when I hear someone call it a Government hand-out, Government assistance, or an “Entitlement” — as if the government is doing us a favor. There are lots of ways the government uses our money that I might not agree with, but when they use it for the health and well-being of our nation, for families, to bring us up, for education, for green parks, and good roads, I’m all for it. America, the shining city on the hill!
Ahem…excuse me for intruding Pat you may want to add that you were an “early” participant not that being 65 is old…..just sayin’ you are just a baby!! 😉 I can’t retire with full benefits at 65 I would have to be 66 yrs. 2 mos…..hmmmm makes me wonder if early for me will be 63 vs 62 yrs.??? UGH I heard the term “entitlement” when the majority members were discussing S.S. recently, earning monies while employed doesn’t make you entitled does it?? I feel it was earned and well deserved!!! OK, enough of that and I did go out and enjoy the beautiful day and planted some hollyhock seeds and put out all our lawn ornaments and LED lights to enjoy when it gets dark outside….hope we don’t look like a carnival I promise there isn’t any flashing neon signs just color changing globes!! :O
I’m so glad to hear you’ve done another book of Days! I really enjoyed the first one. filled it to the brim. Lots of good memories of my children when they were still living at home. I tucked a few extra things in it also.
I so enjoy reading your blog and books, always make me smile! Happy May Day!
What a beautiful blog…….make me happy just to look at it, as well as ,to read it!!!
Happy, happy May Day! Happy, happy Spring!!
Happy May Day Girlfriends,
Sorry to keep whining about the deer eating all of my flowers but this
post makes me want to cry for lost flowers.
Can’t wait to try the cake.
About the Blessings book. Such a dear gift book. Will I be able to buy
it at B&N? Can’t wait.
Thank you for all of the gifts you give us. Good luck and God bless to all
of the girlfriends having treatments. I’m praying for you.
I’m sitting on my porch listening to Pat Boone and the birds are competing
with him. It’s hilarious.
It’s in our web store now Julia … wait and see if you win, but if not, you can get it right here.
ummmmm… not to gross anyone out, but one way to keep the deer from attacking your flowers or your garden is to send the man of the house (or the neighbor boys 🙂 ) out to – ummmm – urinate all around the flower bed or garden. They do not like our smell and will avoid crossing it (usually).
Just a little know tidbit for your reading pleasure 😀
Too much information? Sorry.
♥Deb♥
Probably NOT too much information at this point for some of us! 🙂
Here in England sring has arrived, at last, it has been a long winter. It does lift the spirits when the sun is shining and the birds are singing, especially in the early evening. Looking forward to your new book about England. Its always nice to see your country through a visitors eyes. Marie
I adored our visit to your wonderful amazing country!
Susan,
I used your blog with my students to show them how to design and to write an inviting blog. It inspired many, including a student who likes to cook with his dad. So he decided to make his blog about cooking. Two days ago he baked molasses muffins with maple frosting to share with the entire class. Tomorrow he has promised us creme brulee! Thanks for the inspiration.
I would like to enter to contest so that I can gift my wife with your books to thank her for being the heart of my home and a great mom!
Thanks!
Rob
Now that’s the kind of student that should be encouraged! He must feel so good to hear all of your “yum-yums” — that’s what got me going with cooking too! Thanks Rob — your wife is a lucky woman!
I just this minute turned my SB calendar to May and was enjoying the merits of oatmeal when, surprise, surprise, the recipe for the awesome blueberry cake appeared in my inbox. Thank you so much, it’s going to be perfect for Mother’s Day. Love your new Days book, my husband gave me a copy of the old one a few years ago, and I cherish it. Haven’t written in it yet, it’s like getting a new bundle of quilting fabric. You don’t want to cut into it, just want to keep looking at it because it’s so beautiful. So lovely to have the flowers blooming everywhere now, your yellow tulips are a perfect spring colour. Happy May Day to you and all the girlfriends.
Oh, my favorite day of the year! Do you remember sneaking flowers to neighbors doors and leaving a little bouquet, knocking and running. The biggest disappointment was a slow spring and few flowers on May Day – which is not the case this year. Tulips, brunera, dogwoods and blackhaw viburnum blooming today. That’s just at first count! I’m off to work in the yard and find others. Joy!
oh, and I meant to say thank you for the blueberry angel food cake recipe. I just got carried away.
I’m spending my May Day with 20 of the sweetest 3rd Graders ever! We have 24 days left of school and yes I’m counting down! I guess I should add that as my first blessing. I’m ordering the book now! My second blessing is friends that share recipes! Can’t wait to go home and make the angel food cake. Thanks Susan! Enjoy your flowers!
Have a wonderful day with the 3rd graders xoxo
Glorious May……one of my favorite months. Mother’s Day, my oldest sons birthday, of whom I love more than life, my birthday, a friend or twos birthday, a neices birthday and the most wonderful weather ever…spring flowers, frogs croaking at night, warm nights sitting on the deck, driving my VW bug to lunch, pedicures, warm breezes through open windows, can you tell I LOVE MAY….one of my favorite months, for many reasons……..
Right place at the right time, happy May 1, you have 31 days of glory Jody!
Dear Susan,
thank you for the recipe. Never heard of angel cake here in the Netherlands,but I am definitely going to try and bake it.
Groetjes! (greetings)
OH Good, you are in for a treat Loes. It’s the softest cake in the world. Just delicious.
Susan,
I’m still waiting for the answer about using a boxed mix…will it work, even if not as special?
I would love to win the books to give to dear friend who always borrows mine! Yes, I have all of your books and will continue to purchase anything new! Judy
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were wanting an answer. I’ve actually never made a boxed angel food cake, but I don’t see why not. They aren’t liquid, they shouldn’t change a thing. Go for it!
Judy, if you try using a boxed mix, would you please report to us if it worked? Sometimes if you put fruit in a cake, you dust it with flour so it rises with the batter and doesn’t sink to the bottom. You might want to try that… 🙂
Oh Pat! What a terrific tip!!!
Well, too bad I didn’t use it, myself, when I tried Susan’s recipe as they sunk to the bottom… 🙂 Farther on she mentions that maybe the size of the berries makes a difference and I’m wondering if that was it as the berries I used were HUGE!
Thank you for the recipe. Can’t wait to try that cake. The heading of our Christmas Letter each year is “Counting Our Blessings”. Very generous of you to do another drawing for the new Day Book. I have the old one and love it just for what you said–jotting down the little things in life. Happy May!
What great timing for May Day! The beautiful flowers and yummie looking cake! As always you are a bright spot in a what can be tiresome world! Many times you are my lunch buddie (you and all the others that share!) Thanks for sharing, inspiring, and caring about us gals. Also loved the wallpaper cone with flowers! I have a tin cone I hang on my powder room door. Easy to change with the seasons. Love those. Have a Super day!
Toodles, Bambi
Thankyou for the lovely blueberry angel food cake recipe, it looks so light and yummy, can’t wait to try it! I would just love your new little book of days, what a wonderful and pretty way to right down our blessings every day. I write them down in a plain notebook (not so pretty) so I plan on using this darling little book for just that! Your spring flowers look so happy and full of spring! My pansies are looking just beautiful right now, I just love looking at their colorful smiling faces….Happy May Day Sue! ~East Longmeadow, MA.
Happy, happy May Day Susan! It’s been a beautiful, sunny week here in Maine so far. Frosty is gone. (Yay! We love him but just not in May.) We’re a bit behind you as far as flowers blooming but there ARE some daffodils in bloom. They’re the first thing I look at when I get up in the morning. You can’t help but smile. Even when it’s a rainy day though, your blogs spread sunshine. Have a wonderful day. Anne
I laughed out loud when one of “us” mentioned that her first attempt at baking an angel food cake was like eating a sweet brick. Reminds me of my cousin’s first gravy making experience—her husband was able to roll the gravy into a ball and he playfully tossed it against the wall where it stuck! I’m sure we all have funny stories of our cooking experiences as newlyweds! Merry May to all!
Oh my! LOL
I might have the worst one!
We went to Ohio to my husbands family for Thanksgiving
and I was ask to mash the potatoes. They were in a green
bowl in the sink so I mashed and mashed and soon the
holes started to appear. They were still in the colander.
Most of them went down the drain! But the sister-in-law
was very nice about it!
LOL, that is so funny!!! I just love it. You poor baby, but “thanks for the memories” is probably what everyone really thinks about that one!
does the year my aunt robyn nearly burned down grandma and grandpa’s house count?? she was at their house, and she was cooking Thanksgiving dinner for everyone that year, well she overstuffed the bird and it exploded in the oven, made a mess and almost burned down the house as the oven caught fire and she panicked and tried to put it out by fanning the oven with an apron, the apron caught fire too. she was newlywed to my uncle hal at the time!!!
Her turkey exploded? LOL, I’ve never heard of such a terrible thing! Fanning the fire? With her apron. Oh dear, that is one for the memory book! Poor thing, I’m sure she was traumatized!
Oh how I would love to win that prize. Only problem is I’m a huge fan from across the pond. Does that exclude me? Have pre ordered A fine romance and cant wait to receive it later in the year. My Wedding Day layered tree and Magnolia are in full bloom and look divine, they bring a smile to my face when I see them. Love to all like minded girlfriends. Enjoy new life all around us and take time to smell the roses!!
No no, fans from across the pond are absolutely included! From everywhere! Say hello to Ireland for us. Is it green yet?
Waving at you from just across St George’s Channel and The Irish Sea! I’m in west Wales Edel, and a huge fan of Susan’s!
Thanks, So Much, Susan! I was hoping that you would put the blueberry recipe on…can’t wait to try it!!! Love the new journal, too! (Hope I get to see it in person :0)
Kisses to the Kitties! :0)
I’ll go do that right this minute! 🙂
Hi Susan– Thank you for the blueberry cake recipe! Looks yummy. I have some frozen blueberries in the freezer that I think I will use to make this cake. Thanks also for the many pictures of your beautiful flowers and trees. Here in upper Michigan we have too much snow left on the ground yet for flowers and have more snow on the way 🙁
Would love a chance to win one of your books, as I have Autumn and Christmas, but not any of these. Happy May Day and the Merry Month of May!
All you can do is hunker down for the beauty of it, and bake a big cake! this too shall pass!
that cake looks yummy! can’t wait to try it. I hadn’t thought of Friendly Persuasions in ages – such a wonderful, kleenixy movie! Pat Boone will be singing in the back of my head for the rest of the day.
LOVE your books and blog, always so much we have in common and so inspirational!
I can’t wait to read A Fine Romance! Thank you for the recipe, it looks delicious.
Have a wonderful rest of the week!
Thanks for the great recipe, it’s on the “menu” for this Sunday’s small group! And…I must have quince bush…what an amazing color! Anyone who knows me knows the way to my heart is with fresh flowers…better than $$ any day! How wonderful it would be to go home after work today and find your wallpaper wrapped bouquet waiting for me at my door! If only……
I enjoyed your May 1st blog today and your recipie. I have used your Heart of the Home Day Book for many years. I carry it to all my appointments and it organizes my life and it is beautiful, too! I don’t know what I would do without it and I thoroughly enjoy it….so I am VERY EXCITED to read and use your new Count Your Blessings Day Planner Book. I also enjoy printing the bookmarks posted on your blog. Have a Happy Day. Laurie from Cape Cod
Hello over there! Happy day to you too!
what a wonderful way to share flowers with friends…I made a similar flower holder using a tin can and a ribbon to hang it on a door knob….I left my flowers on the doors of a few friends as a surprise…a fun project and a great way to share flowers and you can do this any time of year even in the winter except then you would use different kinds of evergreens….happy may first to you susan
Happy May Day girlfriends. yumm a cake and flowers, could this day get any better??? I think not. have the last of the quilts on the line drying, and today the cats’ basket is being cleaned and they get new collars…flea collars aand flea treatments today so I know they are getting ready to hide from me today. they hate flea treatments, but I hate fleas so I win on that one. I have to get the peeps out to their pen so they can spend the day in the sunshine, I have a hunch the sunshine makes them grow more, they are getting bigger now that they go out for the day. well off to take care of the peeps and copy that recipe, just may be dessert tonight. Happy May Day everyone, enjoy the sunshine. hugs…… 🙂
Pat, I can just imagine you chasing the cats around and around. They do have that keen sense of knowing that they will be going to the vets or do you do the treatments yourself at home? I had to laugh as when I read your entry about the “girls”, I thought you were talking about the human kind. Wow, I thought, you must be having a huge picnic or tea for them. I hadn’t read the entry above yours to know that you guys were talking about the peeps. Have a great May Day!
hello Carol, Happy May Day!!! I do the flea treatments myself, I get the treatments from the vets’ office and treat the cats myself, so far 2 cats done, 2 more to do!! and these 2 are into some serious hiding. like under the bed or in the drawers or somewhere difficult to get at them. found one in the pantry trying to hide in the potato basket, and the first one was easy, just grabbed her and got the collar on and then treated for fleas. nope just my little “girls”, the peeps, they go out into their own little pen for the sunshine and to play and come in at night as it has been too chilly at night for them to go out into the henhouse yet, and they are still too small to be safe in the barnyard. does this count as a workout???? hugs….. 🙂
Hi Pat~~~ A big YES to having quite the workout trying to round up the kitty cats. I can imagine the first one being easy, as they don’t know what’s coming, but the others certainly do by then. The last one must really be tramitized when you catch it..haha. Of course, you probably do this each year, so they probably know what’s in store for them before hand. Thanks for the laugh. I could just imagine you running around and them hiding. They are smart little critters aren’t they? xoxox
Thanks so much for the cake recipe. It looks simply scrumptious! My friend loves blueberries and angel food cake…so I think I will bake this for her birthday this summer. (If I can wait that long). I have several of your books and I love them all. Thank you for creating a new Book of Days!
Your post today bought back lots and lots of memories of angel food cake (my mom used to bake them), May Day (also called “Lei Day” in Hawaii where I grew up and celebrated with a maypole and flowers everywhere), and Friendly Persuasion (both the movie and the song by Pat Boone). And thanks for the delicious sounding recipe which I will try soon!
You just reminded me of the Maypole at our grammar school in Southern California when I was a child! And us with the flowers in our hair, and my brother trying so hard to learn to skip!
So tell the rest of it ! about how mad he got when we referred to his skipping like when he was 18 and still couldn’t skip ! And now he’s in his 60s and still can’t ……but we don’ t talk about it anymore !
But he looked so cute when he tried! 🙂
that’s one piece of family history I hold over my 2 brothers…. I have a photo of those 2 trying to skip around a maypole at school. now that is a photo they don’t want their wives to see…hehehehe 🙂
Thank- you Susan for reminding me of making May Day baskets for surprises. It has been many years since I made a few for friends. Such a lovely tradition and perfect way to brighten someone’s day. Speaking of perfect, that blueberry cake looks to die for delicious!! Blueberry picking will start here by the middle of May and this recipe would be perfect for enjoying! Yum-O!!
Your Blessings book is just so sweet! I love the art and places to write down special moments or events on any given day. Maybe Vana will choose me?? If not, I think a purchase from your store is in order. Thanks for letting us know about this cutie!!
My birthday month, May!!! Would love to win the “Days” book. Thanks for all the encouragement you send to us.
Happy Birthday Melissa!
I DO want to try this lovely recipe. Yummy!!! We have moved on past daffodils, the wisteria is gone, the dogwood is now green, and the azaleas are fading. The knock-out roses are coming on strong though, and they’ll be magnificent all summer!
Sounds wonderful!
I love your blog! Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
Your tulips are beautiful. I want to be known as the “Tulip Lady” of my neighborhood. I’m curious… Do you plant new bulbs every year or are those your old ones coming back up?
Thanks, Laurie
Some are old and some are new. We try to add a few every year. Makes us so happy in the spring!
I so enjoy your blog and love your artwork — it lifts my spirits — and today the sunshine and flowers in your blog have brightened my day. Can’t wait to try the cake and please enter me in your give-a-ways. I must purchase your new book — my husband and I just love England and so enjoyed your trip.
Nice to hear .. thank you!
Rabbit Rabbit! Happy May Day…one of my favorites when I was a kid…Remembering getting up early and making bouquets from flowers in the yard and Grammas yard…making paper cones with the the glued on paper door hanger! And decorating the cone with color crayons….But the best part was taking my little red wagon out with the cones and going up the street and putting them on neighbors doors and sneeking off so no one heard me! I LOVED it and I also instilled this tradition with my own children….And all three were boys!!! They still talk about leaving flowers on neighbors doors…. Thank you for the recipe..that is a real KEEPER…I love the combination of the blueberries with the Lemon……………….BUT THE BOOK OF DAYS.. what a beautiful book that is…That is another one that really stuck my fancy….This I truly adore and would LOVE to enjoy that everyday…..Vanna: I am sending stong vibes to you when you choose the winner!!!! hee hee Thanks again for another time for a hot cup of coffee and you! I love these times! xoxo
It’s good to teach boys to “give flowers!” Starts them off right!
Yep… it was a good thing to teach those kids about love and sharing and making others feel good….All three boys have families of their own now and the tradition, (another generation) moves forward….I just got a bouquet left on my back porch door knob…from my youngest son and his daughter who is 3!!!! The beat goes on! and on! and on!!!! ♥
You reap what you sow. xoxo
Susan Ericksen, you are the second person to begin with “rabbit rabbit”. Pray tell what does that mean? I’m really curious.
Carol M
If you go to the top of this post, where I wrote RABBIT-RABBIT, you can click on it — to an explanation of that old tradition.
Thanks Susan. When I’m finished reading all the posts I will do that.
Have another happy May Day! Each day when the sun is out and it’s warm is a happy day here in Eureka 🙂 🙂
The spring flowers certainly are a blessing to me today as here it is May Day and we are expecting record lows (freezing) and a blizzard tonight. Oh did I forget to mention we live in the Oklahoma panhandle and yesterday it was 90*. I think Mother Nature is in menopause!
LOL!
Happy May Day from one Susan to another! I absolutely love all things Susan Branch. We are the same age, we both have two cats. I have Ozzy and Al. I live in an old house in Indiana and love antiques, quilts, gardening, etc. I so look forward to your blogs. Thank you for brightening my day each time I read them. Rabbit, rabbit!
Oh Susan! You made my day…that lovely cake recipe, a new DAYS book and a Civil War movie to get for my husband on his birthday. I just got three wishes granted! Thanks for all you do. I started following your blog about March last year and it has been a treasure for me to escape my job for the time it takes to read your lovely words and look in your beautiful home and see all the things you do. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hello Susan! Thank you for the cake recipe!! My tube cake pan has sort of a curved/rounded design on top. Do you think the cake will still come out once inverted and cooled? Maybe I should buy a plain one? (Since the pan is not greased?) I want to make it for Saturday when my daughter comes back from college, she is dreaming of homecooked food!!! Definately Springtime in Dearborn, Michigan today, I saw a butterfly on my morning walk!!!
I found a ladybug today!!! love ladybugs.
I saw a small colorful butterfly in the garden sunning itself the other day. Love it when are are lucky enough to get spring days WITHOUT the fog 🙂
Ooooh the cake looks so dee-licious!!!! and I love lemon glaze too. Please add my name to the drawing…I am crossing my fingers!